Global real estate portal Lamudi has today launched an Android app to help house hunters in Saudi find property on the go.
The app, Lamudi: Real Estate for Sale and Rent, hosts more than 400,000 property listings from Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and Africa. The app covers all the cities in Saudi – giving house-hunters a free mobile platform to buy, rent or sell real estate on a mobile device.
The apps from Lamudi, a Middle East Internet Holding (MEIH) company, are designed to meet the growing demand for mobile internet services in the emerging markets. Android remains the dominant mobile platform worldwide, according to recent figures from Statcounter. In Jordan for instance, Android is the most popular platform, with Google’s operating system capturing nearly 70 percent of the local mobile market. But iOS is also on the rise.

Lamudi’s Co-Founder and Managing Director, Antonius Salis, said: “Android is the future of the smartphone market not just in Saudi, but worldwide. For this reason, we have focused on rolling out the Android app to Lamudi’s 28 countries to reach the maximum number of users with our unique property platform.

The Lamudi app is Saudi`s first because of the sheer number of cities and variety of listings. So whether you are looking to rent a villa in Jeddah, invest in an Apartment in Riyadh or buy a building in Dammam, the Lamudi app helps you find your perfect property match.”

Country Manager for Lamudi Saudi, Khaled Alali, said: “It is no secret that house-hunting can be a stressful process. This app helps take the pressure out of searching for property, allowing you to look up homes for sale or rent at any time and on any device.”

Both the Android and iOS apps have customized search functions, allowing users to easily filter results by country. A key feature of the app is the match alert function, which notifies users as soon as a property that suits their needs hits the market. Users can also create a list of favorites to bookmark properties, which can be accessed at any time and on any device.

All listings feature high-quality photo galleries, detailed property information, maps, and multiple contact details for property owners or agents. House-hunters can also share their favorite properties with family and friends via Facebook, Twitter or email.

Riding on a Camel back and moving across the sand dunes and winds in the Arabian Desert with an Arabic song playing in the background. The idea might seem synonymous to a lot of people’s perception of working in Saudi Arabia.

But, is there any other shade to this cliched thought?

Yes dear reader, there definitely is. Working in Saudi Arabia is a different experience altogether. Right from beautiful places like Dumat al Jundal and Jamarat bridge to the rich delicacies like Kabsa, Haneeth and Baladi cheese, this Kingdom has a lot to offer to those living here. Saudi Arabia gives numerous job opportunities to grow and excel in one’s professional life.

However, the discussion to follow will talk about the work conditions and idiosyncrasies in this country. Giving it a quick glance might help you gain an insight regarding the professional life and work environment you’ll be facing, once you are there.

What do you need to know about the employment contract?

You will be provided with an employment contract which will specifically mention all the details of the pay-package. Any verbal communication will not be considered or covered by the contract.

Though you’ll be handed over an English-language contract signed by you and your employer before departing for Saudi Arabia, but you’ll be asked to sign an Arabic version after your arrival as well. Arabic version is the one that will be referred in case of any dispute.

When checking the contract make sure the details regarding salary, job title and description, probation period, housing allowance and relocation costs are included.

What are the working hours in KSA ?

The number of hours you’ll have to devote to work per week varies between 40 to 48 in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, depending on the organization’s policy.

Office hours range between 7.30 am/8 am until 12 noon, then from 3.30/4 pm until 7 or 8 pm.

Most of the government offices are open from 7.30 am to 2.30 pm with the general banking hours being 8 am until noon.

However, in the month of Ramadan the working day is reduced to six hours, which a lot of companies apply only to the Muslim staff.

Friday is the Muslim day of rest and if your firm has a five-day working week, the other day off will either be a Thursday or Saturday.

What are the work ethics you need to keep in mind?

Work ethics keep on altering once you are moving across the globe from country to country. In Kingdom of Saudi Arabia they are much different to those followed at any work destination in the world. Right from the most conservative style of dressing to a specific polite way of greeting your co-workers, this country has the most different set of work and business etiquettes in store for you.

For instance, you will be expected to greet your colleagues by the title Sayed (Mr.) or Sayeda (Mrs.). Whilst working in Saudi Arabia you’ll also have to avoid scheduling any business meeting on Friday, which is generally known by the name ‘Juma’- meaning the prayer day.

What is the remuneration available in different professions?

According to a salary survey (in Saudi Arabia) by a reputed website the average monthly salary in the country is 16,252 SAR.

However, the maximum salary is as high as 140,000 SAR and the minimum is as low as 833 SAR.

What will be the entitlements associated with your job?

Employment in Saudi Arabia includes a 21 days paid vacation for the first five years of your tenure. Some companies allow the employee to go on vacation only once in every two years. Hence, make sure that your work contract includes at least 21 days of paid vacation in a single year.

From the 6th year onwards the number of vacations increases to 30 per year. However, if your employer has made you to sign a contract of 21 days’ vacation even after you’ve entered the sixth year of tenure, the law obligates him to pay you for the remaining 9 days per year once you’re leaving the kingdom.

An employee working for more than 2 years is eligible for ‘End of Service’ benefits too.

For less than 5 years: 1/3rd of the ESB award or half salary.

For more than 5 and less than 10 years: 2/3 of the ESB award or half salary for the first five years and full salary for the next five years.

For more than 10 years: Full ESB award or half salary for the first five years and full salary for the rest of the years.

Working in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will make you a part of eight million expats in the country, thriving for a comfortable and secure work life. But, it might seem like a cake walk, once you are well acquainted with the norms and regulations followed in this country.

Author Bio:Anshuman Kukreti is a professional writer and a keen follower of the global job market. An engineer by qualification and an artist at heart, he writes on various topics relating to employment across the gulf. Reach him at

It was a heavy rain in Jeddah on 16th November 2014 when no body was expecting it. People went to their work places like a normal day. It was a bright sunny morning when suddenly in the afternoon clouds come from nowhere and spread on the sky. There was a dust storm behind the clouds pushing them from North. It started with a light cool breeze and slowly with the time rain started.

When rain has started, water gathered on the roads and traffic faced huge difficulty in moving on. Below is a video which tells a short story of rain. It is just a little effort to tell the viewers about this rain.

Update: 30-Oct-2014 10:55 am
In a recent statement to Arab News, undersecretary for Labor policies at the Labor Ministry said

expatriate women teachers on dependent visa (house wife iqama) can work at private schools without transferring their sponsorship to the school, This decision has been taken to tackle shortage of female teachers at private schools. Instead of issuing new teacher’s visas and source them from abroad Ministry decided to take advantage of locally available skilled female teachers. This will require a formal approval from the MoE (Ministry of Education) for each individual candidate.

Expatriate Dependents can now work in Saudi Arabia at private organizations or International Schools without transferring their sponsorship to their employers, Saudi Gazette newspaper has reported. This decision by Ministry of Labor will allow local community schools or private schools to hire wives or daughters of expatriate workers who are already living in Saudi Arabia but unable to work due to their iqama status, which previously not allow them to work.

This will reduce amount of foreign manpower required for local education system and help utilize existing manpower which is available here in the form of expatriate dependents.
Expatriate dependents which are previously living in Saudi Arabia but unable to take part in development of country can now easily join hands with locals and can utilize their education and talent to bring prosperity in education sector of Saudi Arabia.

I am emphasizing more on education because this sector lacks qualified staff and private schools are already taking benefit of expatriate dependents but in an illegal way (because govt does not allow dependents to work). However current move on MOL will bring a good change in local education system and it will make more and more qualified people available for hiring in schools and other organizations.

Dependents have to register with Ministry’s Ajeer Service which will be monitored by MoE (Ministry of Education)

Schools in Saudi Arabia were always having problems in recruitment of female teachers because their guardians aren’t ready for transferring their sponsorship to schools. Now under monitoring of MoE female teachers can easily work in schools without need to transfer sponsorship (iqama) to school and schools will be responsible for their medical insurance.

As per Saudi Labor Law, daily working hours cannot exceed 8 hours so the same will be effective for female teachers. Additionally female teachers are entitled to 21 days paid annual leave.

There are further benefits for pregnant working females. They can have a maximum of 10 weeks maternity leave. They have a right to get 1 hour break for breast-feeding their children. Furthermore employer cannot fire a female during maternity leave and the employer will be responsible for all medical expenses for the pregnant female teachers. These are some great benefits female teachers will get, Thanks to Saudi Arabian Govt.

If you are not familiar with how to get your family in Saudi Arabia, read this post.

If your family is recently arrived in Saudi Arabia and you are planning to Issue Family Iqama (dependent’s Iqama) either wife or children, this can be achieved in following easy steps.

Medical Test of Family (Dependents)

Visit any authorized medical center or hospital and ask them to do a medical test of your dependents. Your dependents were already completed a set of medical test in home country, however once reached in Saudi Arabia, another medical test is also required. In case these medical test are also passed, there will be no problem for you to get family iqama for your wife or child. Once the test is completed authorized Hospital or Clinic will submit the report to MOI Online. It will hardly take 1-2 days.

Visiting Jawazaat Office

Once you are sure the medical result is online, visit Jawazaat office which is authorized to issue new family iqama. Normally it is one dedicated Jawazaat office in each city for doing this. In Jeddah City it is located in Al-Rehab Dist (حي الرهاب).

Required documents to Issue a new family iqama

2 photographs of each family member

1 Copy of passport (First Page & Visa Page)

2 copies of your iqama

a filled form

You can obtain MOI form from the internet and fill it by yourself, however I recommend it to get it filled by an agent. Various agents are sitting outside Jawazaat office on the road. They charge SR 10 for filling 1 form.

Once the form is filled, go to Jawazaat building. You may ask the exact hall where new Iqama is issued from the officer at receptionist in case you didn’t find a point arrow or mini-board. Once you reach in the hall, get a ticket and submit your documents upon your turn. The officer might ask you for original Iqama. Also they can retrieve information through Air-port entry number. It will take maximum 2 to 5 minutes and Family Iqama for your dependents will be printed.

Often it happens with Smartphone or tablet users. When they buy a non-branded (china phone or tablet) and they insert a data sim-card, they are unable to browse internet and unable to use Internet based applications on the tablet or Smartphone. For example YouTube, Facebook, Twitter or whatsapp.

Unlike this, branded Smartphones and tablets are having different kind of behavior and great intelligence inside. Branded Smartphones of Samsung, Huawei, Lenavo, Toshiba or LG does not bother users to create access points when they install sim-card in new device.

So to solve this problem on Non-branded devices, you may require creating an access point if you want to use internet via data sim-card. For convenience of readers I am writing below setting of Access Point for Network operators in Kingdom, Mobily, STC and Zain.

Firstly Go to Settings

Wireless and networks (In some devices, it is under More Networks)

Mobile Networks

Choose Access Point Names

Choose from the menu New APN

Write as follows

Access Point Setting for STC

Name: JAWALNet

APN: jawalnet.com.sa

APN type: default / Internet

Authentication type: PAP

Access Point Setting for Mobily

Name: mobily web

APN: web2

APN type: default / Internet

Access Point Setting for Zain

Name: zain-gprs

APN: zain

MMSC: http://10.122.200.010

MMS proxy: 10.122.200.010

MMS port: 8080

MMC: 420

MNC: 04

APN type – default, mms,supl

APN protocol: IPv4

For Zain, you may ignore some MMS setting above if you are not interested in sending MMS from your device.

Some settings you may ignore for all operators e.g. Proxy, Port, Username, Password, Server etc

Leave them whatever they are, if there are any values in that don’t change it.

After completing above configuration if you are unable to connect to Internet from your smartphone or tablet device.

Saudi Arabia is the largest Arab state in Western Asia and second largest oil producer in the world. This kingdom is a goldmine of opportunities and has been often touted as one of the most powerful nations due to its steady economic growth. The rich country is home to some of the finest companies, including those that are ranked highly not just in Saudi Arabia but all over the world.

Here’s a list of the top 10 Saudi companies that have been ranked as per their market capitalization. Those seeking to find work opportunities or even to switch jobs can benefit immensely from the following list –

1. SABIC

Saudi Basic Industries Corporation or SABIC is Saudi Arabia’s biggest public company. It is a diversified manufacturing company, actively involved in producing petrochemicals, intermediates, fertilizers, industrial polymers and metals. Founded in the year 1976, the company has its headquarters in Riyadh. Its market capitalization is estimated to be almost $75.98 billion while the annual revenue it generates is nearly $50.65 billion. The current CEO of SABIC is Mohammed Al Mady.

2. Al Rajhi Bank

Al Rajhi is the largest Islamic bank in the whole world. It was established in 1975 and is headquartered in Riyadh. The yearly revenue of this Saudi Arabian bank is estimated to be about $3.39 billion, while the entire company is valued at around $29.59 billion. Its current CEO is Suliman bin Abdulaziz Azzabin.

3. STC

STC is the abbreviation for Saudi Telecom Company. This public company is among the leading telecommunications companies based in Saudi Arabia and offers mobile (Jawal,) landline (Home,) internet and IPTV services to more than 160 million global customers. It was set up in the year 1998 in Riyadh and has yearly revenue of approximately $15 billion. The market capitalization of STC is almost $19.46 billion.

4. Saudi Electricity Company

Saudi Electricity Company is one of the largest providers of electricity in Saudi Arabia. The publicly listed company has its headquarters in Riyadh and is known to provide different services pertaining to the generation and distribution of power. The market capitalization of Saudi Electricity is estimated to be around $15.72 billion while the annual revenue generated totals to about $$8.15 billion.

5. SAMBA

Samba Financial Group, previously called The Saudi American Bank, is among the largest banking firms in Saudi Arabia. Established in the year 1980, SAMBA’s yearly revenue is about $1.74 billion while its market value stands at around $11.78 billion.

6. Mobily

Mobily is a telecommunications company established in 2005. The market capitalization of this public company is almost $11.15 billion. The annual revenue it generates is around $5.35 billion.

7. Riyad Bank

Riyad Bank is among the major financial institutions of Saudi Arabia and ranks third in terms of assets. As the name suggests, this bank is headquartered in Riyadh and was founded in 1957. It has been providing financial and banking services ever since. With annual revenue of nearly $1.37 billion, the company’s market capitalization is almost $9.68 billion. The Saudi Arabian government owns 51% stock of the firm, which is regulated by Saudi Arabian Monetary Association.

8. SABB

SABB is the abbreviation for the Saudi British Bank. It was set up in 1978 to provide financial and banking services. It is based in Riyadh and also has another branch in London. It is an associated company of the HSBC Group and has a market capitalization of nearly $8.61 billion while the annual revenue it generates is around $1.41 billion.

9. Banque Saudi Fransi

Banque Saudi Fransi specializes in offering corporate banking services. The institution offers automobile, trade finance, home renovation, structured finance and syndicated loans. It also advises on mergers and acquisitions along with private placements, securities brokerage services and treasury services. The annual revenue of the company is approximately $1.02 billion while its market capitalization is approximately $8.56 billion.

10. TASNEE

This is a petrochemical company focusing on the manufacturing of chemical products. Based in Al-Jubail Industrial City, TASNEE or The National Industrialization Company is a public company with a market capitalization of nearly $6.03 billion. It was established in the year 1985 and annually generates around $5.24 billion.

If you wish to expand your horizon, start searching for a lucrative job in Saudi Arabia. Consider applying to one of the above companies as these prospective employers have huge headcounts and are in a position to pay handsomely.

Author bio: Devika Arora is a professional writer currently focusing on the extensive domain of job search and career building. Professionally affiliated with job search portal Naukrigulf.com, Devika seeks to provide guidance to job seekers through her articles and blogs.

Social Media Engagement of Arab Users in Ramadan is an infographic created by The Online Project in last year. It shows statistics of social media usage by Arab users during Ramadan. These statistics are collected from various Arab countries including Egypt, Lebanon, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and UAE. This infographic tells people engagement with Facebook and Twitter during the holy month of Ramadan.

The results of this research tells that people During Arab World increase usage of Social Media during Ramadan. An increase of 30% in usage of Facebook and an increase of 33% in twitter usage. This research also includes some manual readings of people behavior and the result showed that Facebook Users in Arab World are positive during Ramadan while Arab users at Twitter gets little bit negative. Finally this infographic also gives you some recommendations to Facebook Business Pages and Bussiness Twitter Profiles, how to improve their social media presence during holy month of Ramadan.

How to get benefit from Increased Social Media Engagement of Arab Users

In Ramadan Business pages are required to optimize their content mix with users’s changing interests to stay relevant and build stronger relationships. Timing of Social Media Engagement of Arab Users During Ramadan changes as compared to rest of the year, so Business pages at social media should re-adjust their posting times and align timing with their audience to maximize user engagement. It would be a good time to spend more on marketing during Ramadan because user activity at social media increases during Ramadan and their engagement with other channels decreases.